>>Every experienced programmer knows that the absolute best code is no code at all. One could similarly argue that the best comments are no comments at all. The holy grail is code written such that its purpose and operation is obvious to anyone with a reasonable grasp of the language used, and with no comments required.

Quite often, I've found that the person who benefits most from my comments is me when I'm looking at the code 6 - 12 months later

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>As Mike Feltman used to tell me, "Great code is self-documenting." :-) That said, comments should be for documenting design interactions that might be helpful if one is looking at the code for the first time. However a document succintly explaining the big picture design is the one that really matters.
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>I think the problem with "Just get it working and get it out the door" is that it creates a mindset where design is considered a time-suck, ivory tower luxury and garbage code is applauded if it is written quickly and doesn't blow up before the check is cashed. It leads to some really intellectually lazy work that may fool managment for while but perpetuates the cycle of bad apps written by hacks later maintained by even less qualified hacks.

Or, you run into what used to be a perfectly good application that has had everything AND the kitchen sink added to it with no time given to actually do the analysis to figure out the best way to hang everything and said sink.


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>I contend it is possible to write good code and good apps in a time-efficient fashion if habits of design and best practices have become second-nature and are insisted on as a matter of personal pride. I get tired of hearing people make the excuse that doing it right takes longer. I think knowing *how* to do it right takes a little more professional preparation but the actual doing it right is actually more efficient. The truth is, there are whole lot of people in our business that don' t have the intellectualy curiosity, auto-didactic discipline or mental horsepower to do what this demands.
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>I've had a pretty diverse exposure to other professions and aspects of life and I can say that the most interesting minds I have encountered have been in this field. But I also find that there are a whole slew of people doing this who are completely ignorant of just how far over their heads they are. Writing software is really pretty easy. Writing good software isn't.
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>I like this :
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>http://m.techrepublic.com/blog/programming-and-development/seven-traits-of-effective-programmers/6750